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Everytown Launches More Than $1.6 Million in Digital Ads and Direct Mail to Flip North Carolina General Assembly to a Gun Sense Majority

9.21.2020

Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Spending Roughly $750,000 on Digital Ads and $900,000 on Direct Mail Primarily Targeting Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly for Their Inaction in the Face of the Gun Violence Crisis

Polling Shows North Carolinians Overwhelmingly Support Gun Safety Laws

RALEIGH, N.C. – Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund (“Everytown”) launched more than $1.6 million in digital ads and direct mail in order to elect a gun sense majority to the North Carolina General Assembly. As part of the effort, Everytown will spend roughly $750,000 to run digital video, radio and static ads, and roughly $900,000 to send candidate-specific direct mailers to voters in more than a dozen State House and Senate districts. The digital ads and direct mailers will primarily highlight the failures of Republicans in the state legislature to address gun violence, and fight for the health and economic security of North Carolina families. 

As part of this effort, Everytown will target the following state House and Senate districts:

STATE HOUSE TARGETS: HD-01; HD-09; HD-20; HD-45; HD-59; HD-63; HD-74; HD-82; HD-83; HD-98
STATE SENATE TARGETS:  SD-01; SD-11; SD-24; SD-31 

“For years now, Republican leaders in the North Carolina General Assembly have chosen to put gun lobby interests ahead of public safety, but now the choice lies with the people,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Everytown is going all out to help voters hold gun lobby lawmakers accountable for their refusal to pass common sense laws to keep our families safe.”

“Republican lawmakers have sat on their hands for too long while thousands of North Carolinians have been shot, killed, and wounded,” said Jack Sinclair, a volunteer with the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We’ve had enough – that’s why we’re going all-in to elect a gun sense majority this November.”

WATCH “WE EXPECTED ACTION,” AND “TWO CRISES.”

View a sample of the static ads here

View a sampling of the mail pieces below:

Polling regularly finds that the vast majority of voters in North Carolina support common-sense gun safety laws.

  • 91% of voters support background checks on all gun sales, including 95% of suburban women, while 84% overall support red flags laws, including 91% of suburban women.
  • 64% of voters say they would never vote for a candidate who doesn’t support background checks on all gun sales, and it was the TOP issue among independents by a two-point margin.
  • Voters broadly agree that it is possible to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them while also protecting the rights of gun owners by a near 2:1 margin (65% possible/35% not possible).

In 2018, gun sense candidates helped break a Republican “supermajority” in the state House and the state Senate. Now, there are just six seats needed to flip the House and five seats needed to flip the Senate, putting both chambers within striking distance of a gun sense majority. Everytown will aggressively contest state legislative races with the goal of electing a gun sense majority in the North Carolina General Assembly. To do so, Everytown will defend gun sense champions in competitive races and aim to flip key seats in many of the fastest growing and diversifying counties in the state. 

This year, Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund will spend $60 million on the 2020 elections, doubling what they spent during the 2018 elections.